Target to reduce infant mortality rate by half in the next one year: Singhdeo

Central Chronicle News
Raipur, Nov 16: Health Minister T.S. Singhdeo launched the ‘SAANPS’ campaign (Social Awareness and Action to Neutralize Pneumonia Successfully) in the state on World Pneumonia Day. Keeping in mind the Covid-19 epidemic, ‘SAANPS’ campaign is being operated from November 12 to February 28, 2022. Singhdeo also launched the National Newborn Baby Week in a program organized through video conference. This week will be celebrated from November 15th to November 21st, 2021 with the theme of “Safety, Quality and Nurturing Care – Birth Right of Every Newborn”. National Newborn Children’s Week is being organised to create public awareness about the need for survival and development of newborns and to ensure the commitment of newborn care at the institutional and community level. Director of National Health Mission Dr. Priyanka Shukla and officials of Health Department also participated in the virtual launch program. Launching the ‘SAANPS’ campaign and National Newborn Baby Week, Health Minister Singhdeo said that public awareness about pneumonia in newborns is necessary. Newborns are more prone to infection during
delivery.
He said that 14 percent of newborn deaths in the country are due to pneumonia. We need to work on this seriously. He informed that PCV (Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine) has also been included in the routine immunization program from this year to prevent pneumonia in children. Three doses of this are being given free of cost to children at the age of six weeks, 14 weeks and nine months respectively. Singhdeo said that we all have to work together and seriously for the good health of newborn babies. Our target is to reduce the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) by 50 percent in the next one year. At present this rate is 40 percent which we have to bring down to 20 percent in a year. He also asked the Health Department officials and doctors to take effective steps to bring down the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR). With the objective of “Pneumonia Nahi Toh Bachpan Sahi”, special care will be taken for the health of children in the age group of zero to five years through the ‘SAANPS’ campaign. This campaign is being run to prevent deaths due to pneumonia in children. Under the campaign, public awareness in the society about pneumonia and its treatment of serious cases in health institutions should be promoted. In this, about 35 lakh children of the state will be benefited. Health check-up of newborns will be done in all medical college hospitals during National Newborn Baby Week. Health screening of newborn children will be done at OPD of District Hospitals and emphasis will also be laid on quality operation of all SNCUs, NBSUs and NBCCs in the state.